I just tore down my 1988 Alpha one outdrive because I noticed that a bellows had a tear in it. Once I got the outdrive off and was able to look at the gimbal bearing, drive bellows and shift cable bellows, everything looked to be in great shape. Now.... by great shape I mean that the hinge pin bolts came out easily with NO corosion, there is no water or foreigh materials inside the drive bellows, the gimball bearing spinns freely with very little play and looks clean with fresh grease (not from me). It looks to me like everything has been replaced recently and they did a really good job. My question is do I absolutly have to replace the exhaust bellows? Because if I do I will have to replace the other two bellows as well. I 've heard that many people only have a tube and not a bellows on the exhaust. Also the tear is about two inches on the bottom part of the bellows and is at the outer-most part of the bellows (towards the outdrive, away from the transom). I've only had this boat for about two months if that matters. Thanks so much for your input.
